Manufacturing Technology Insights: Specials Magazine

As product development continues to evolve across industries, engineering teams are working with increasing levels of complexity. Products are becoming more connected, more customized and subject to tighter performance and manufacturing constraints. In this environment, the ability to design, test and refine products within digital systems has become central to modern engineering workflows. This shift has placed greater emphasis on tools that go beyond traditional drafting and modeling. Engineering systems are now expected to support iterative design, simulation and validation, enabling teams to explore multiple design options before moving to physical production. PTC [NASDAQ:PTC] operates within this landscape as a provider of digital engineering and product development solutions. Through its software portfolio, the company supports organizations in designing, simulating and managing products across their lifecycle. Its offerings include 3D CAD capabilities, generative design tools and systems that connect design processes with engineering workflows. FROM CAD MODELING TO INTEGRATED ENGINEERING SYSTEMS Computer-aided design has long been a foundational element of product development, enabling engineers to create detailed digital representations of components and assemblies. While this capability remains essential, the role of CAD systems has expanded to include analysis and validation workflows. Modern engineering environments require more than static models. They require systems that support iterative design, where designs are repeatedly refined based on performance requirements, constraints and simulation results. This evolution reflects a broader shift from standalone design tools to integrated engineering systems. Instead of focusing solely on geometry, these systems support design development, including analysis, validation and optimization. In this scenario, CAD becomes part of a larger workflow that connects design intent with engineering outcomes. The ability to move from modeling to evaluation is increasingly important in managing complex product requirements. PTC reflects this transition by positioning design as an integrated process rather than a discrete activity.

Every day, manufacturers make decisions that shape production costs, inventory levels, customer deliveries, and factory performance. Yet, most manufacturers do not have internal operations research teams capable of building mathematical optimization models that improve production decisions across complex factory environments. This is because few have the in-house teams needed to develop and maintain such capabilities, leaving production planners to rely on spreadsheets, fixed ERP rules, and manual judgment. The result is a planning process that struggles to adapt to changing demand and leads to inefficiencies that ripple across the factory floor. Harumi's founders arrived at this realization after interviewing operations research specialists across multiple manufacturing companies. They discovered that very few manufacturers had the internal teams needed to build and maintain these mathematical models. Harumi was founded to close that gap by becoming the external operations research partner manufacturers often lack. Its approach combines operations research expertise with AI to rapidly build factory-specific optimization systems and help manufacturers connect demand forecasts with the realities of the factory floor. “Our fine-tuned AI significantly accelerates the work of our operations research consultants by helping them develop the mathematical optimization models behind each solution,” says Miriam Koga, founder and CEO.